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OK, I've read just about all I can and I'm leaning toward a tuner. Most folks say SCT, but it seems they along with a few others have a "CA Compliant" tuner.

What's the difference?
What do I gain / lose? (Beside the obvious, CARB #)
Which brand is more confident in the CA Compliant market? (Is it SCT still)

Please help educate in this as I've been out of the game. I'm very familiar with tuners as I had several tuned (dyno tune on my F150 Lightning), so I'm getting caught up on all of this newer technology.

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SCT might be the newest (on paper) but in reality they have been tuning Ford for quite a while. They likely have among the best support for custom tunes (which will not be able to obtain a CARB #). BullyDog and SCT have the same parent company - which is pushing for more government clients. Since the EPA all but bankrupted Edge for selling to customers who were not using the product for "off road use" the manufacturers and dealers have been more leery of running afoul of the law. Several manufacturers do have serial numbers recorded and tracked through the supply chain. A dealer who violates the terms of the manufacturer can be subject to loss of their ability to sell the product. Each month several manufacturers send out a list of violators who are no longer allowed to sell the products of such manufacturer - and approved dealers are not allowed to resell inventory to them.

There are not a great number of custom tuners for the platform so don't be surprised if you post about skirting a law and they find out... you are out in the cold. At the dealer level the EPA has some stiff penalties for violators. Those people are even picky about the custom screwdrivers to adjust carbs now.

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^this. CA is a catch 22, according to the letter of the CARB, you can't tune unless there has been an EO issued...
Practically speaking, the only thing the smog test checks for is visually if anything has been changed without a number, and if all the sensors are operational and within range. I don't think they even do the sniff test anymore.

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Heck buy it off of ebay, they'll ship to anyone. The tuner is not asking you where you live they want strategy number and device number, its not illegal to sell a tune or a device it is illegal to use it for the purposes that it's not intended for.

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Also you can buy the tuner and tunes off of
Americanmuscle.com they'll ship to CA. I know of a few people who have done that. Of course you've got to check the box that says you'll be using it for off road only.

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I would not recommend purchasing the tuner from american trucks/american muscle. They will ship you the tuner but wont design or preload tunes on the device. I ran into this issue and the only solution is to return the device.

So since updating my sct to show OAR, I have found what I believe is the reason my trucks power feels very inconsistent.
The OAR will stay at -.96 to -.88 if I am driving nice and easy with it keeping the rpms down and easy on the throttle.
However, if I am hard on the truck or ever giving it...

I've had my '19 3.5 EB for about 2 weeks and am itching to do a couple of things to it...primarily intake and exhaust. I came from a RAM 1500 HEMI, and I know an EcoBoost will never sound like a V8, but it could definitely sound better than stock. I'm also well aware that any performance gains...

Have been reading as many post as possible on catch cans. What one does everyone recommend is the best value for the money. I watched the video on the RX install. I like where it is located at but seen the price when I googled it. It is way out of my price range.

Looking for some custom tunes, not sure who to go with. Anyone with any help with who to go with would be greatly appreciated. 2015 F150 ecoboost 3.5L all stock with sct x4 preloaded tuner. There's a few to choose from but not sure what's best.

This is cross posted in my build thread but I thought for the purpose of public knowledge it would be beneficial to have a dedicated thread. This will allow people considering the system easier access when doing their research (hopefully they are doing research)!!
Before going into the...